The universe connected my old-school curiosities and modern ones alike to create some quite impeccable timing this week. I listened to Surf Splendor’s David Scales talk to long-time surf journalist and master of poetic surf riff, Matt George. My time with surfing has come after the time of magazines, and so, I now had a familiar name with little to no info surrounding it on the brain, and that motivated (or gave me the excuse)  to scour Matt Warshaw’s Encyclopedia of Surf. Which, as it does, led in twenty different directions. 1 hour of reading EOS is similar to 1 hour of walking through ..read more

I’m a married man. Yes, thank you, thank you. And since this newly married man has a wife with wants and needs, I’ve begun contemplating, no, meditating about certain things that will have to be adjusted, if it’s possible to even adjust. You see, for the past ten years or so, traveling has taken on a different meaning. My definition of travel: finding a place to score some waves; to get my fix in a location that has better waves than where I live (or that at least has equally good waves, but is also beautiful and warm — I fuckin’ love beautiful and warm places). It’s an either or type of deal ..read more

Today I’m writing with weary arms and a surfed-out mind, so apologies if I’m nonsensical. The reason being: I surfed a new board today, a lot. Well newish.. And kind of a lot. But I’ll get to that in just a sec. Lately, I’ve been consuming the surf marketing machine — chewing it up and digesting its toxic messages, which in turn results in frustrating sessions on boards that are too small for my feeble abilities. What do I mean by this? Well, day after day we are blasted (while on the toilet, working out, working, doing the dishes, dinner dates, etc.) with content of far superior surfers, surf ..read more

News  It’s the weekend and a category 3 or 4ish hurricane is spinning its way up the western coast of Baja gracing some spots and leaving others in ruin. But at the moment, it’s just gracing our area; the waves were fun, the angle was steep, and the water was shallow, what else do you need? More events and news happened within the last couple of weeks than would be possible to sum up in these mere tiny paragraphs but definitely noteworthy nonetheless, so let’s talk about it. There was a devastating fire in Maui; as mentioned earlier, Hurricane Hilary is sending it up the coast as we ..read more

Surf jobs. This post is long overdue — I mean, I promised it about two months ago. I’ve been squeezed by the corporate world’s python-like grip and forced to comply with anti-creative business brainwashing bullshit, so give me a break. Anyways, surf jobs. I was obliged to think surf jobs had to be in the surf industry. False, untrue. The surf industry is cliquey, and, unfortunately, getting a job in the “surf industry” is difficult and could have the same corporate consequences as any other soul-withering nine-to-five. So, what is a surf job — or rather, why do we want a surf job? Well, as sur ..read more

“The common narrative is that we consumers are fully responsible for the end-of-life of that plastic. We should shift this sentiment; producers should take much more responsibility than they have.” Merijn Tinga Stefanoots hugging this overpriced bad boy from Car City A baby blue Toyota Hiace was my tiny home on wheels for almost a year. I had packed my bags (actually only one very unbalancing and heavy camping bag), met my buddy at the Newark Airport and traveled… and then traveled… and… you guessed it, traveled. Then, I was in Australia.  While it’s true that surfing every day, enjoyin ..read more

Life since learning this ancient Hawaiian art has been confusing. Not confusing in a bad way; it’s opened my mind to LSD-like alternate ways of thinking that have changed my ambitions. In simple terms, my family thinks I’m NUTZ. I had a relatively normal inland existence. Here’s a quick VHS fast-forwarded sequence of my path and how surfing altered it: being a kid, climbing trees, playing soccer, more soccer, going to school, skating, snowboarding, more soccer, 20-pound homemade Italian family meals, occasional sandcastles during beach visits, college, job, money, surfing, no job, no money, mo ..read more

Last Friday I was lost at sea, well not literally, I was after-work-scrolling through Instagram, through pages and stories of rad rippers throwing spray and getting shacked. As I mindlessly drooled and drifted into a semiconscious state, scrolling like a technology-addicted zombie, one Insta story snapped me back to life. I’m in the beginner surfing sphere (we know that, barn) and I saw @blacksand.surf post about a local Long Beach surfer/ surf coach who puts on a free monthly coaching sesh at Sunset Beach in HB. It seemed like an event that gathers a nearby community of hard-charging beginne ..read more

Toward the tail end of the winter season last year, I was surfing at a local HB spot with big juicy dumpers powerfully imploding onto a sandbar. In this specific spot, when the waves get to this specific magnitude, people just don’t want to do the paddle. Call me stupid, or maybe a barney, up to you. There were 3 people out: me and two teenagers who were chucking themselves into any and everything back-breakable. Watching them fearlessly drop into the thickest HB has to offer was kind of inspiring and you know what? I went for one… That I shouldn’t have. It was probably a bit over my head (lit ..read more

What comes to mind when I say Connecticut? Let’s try; I say CT, you say … Lacrosse, maybe? Rich hedge fund managers living in Greenwich? Algonquins? No, maybe you’re thinking of its peculiar geographic location that has had a strange effect on some of its population; some are Boston sports fans and some New York sports fans. Hartford, perhaps? No, I hope you’re not thinking of Hartford. What if I told you that although there is a large landmass blocking any swell from hitting this mystical coastline — namely, Long Island — CT still has a rich surf culture and some great surfboard builders? You ..read more